Eosinophilic esophagitis is an inflammatory condition of the esophagus that can be triggered or not by an antigen. Symptoms include functional abdominal pain, vomiting, difficulty to thrive, swallowing difficulty, food impaction, and heartburn. The disease was initially described in children but occurs in adults as well. Eosinophils can usually not be found in normal esophageal mucosa. However, in eosinophilic esophagitis the eosinophils infiltrate the epithelium of the esophagus and can often be found in clusters close to the surface of the epithelium. Frequently the infiltration of the eosinophils is associated with a thickening of the basal layer as a reaction to the inflammatory activities in the epithelium.
There are different strategies available for the treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis including medical therapy, mechanical dilatation, and modification of the diet.
In medical therapy corticosteroids and proton pump inhibitors have been found to mitigate the symptoms. It has also been observed that the allergic response can be reduced by the administration of antihistamines. Mechanical dilatation of the esophagus might be considered in severe cases where the swelling of the epithelium is threatening to block the esophagus.
Previous nutritional treatment regimens mainly aim at a dietary modification by excluding potential food allergens from the diet. Thus, an allergy evaluation is performed and thereby those allergens are identified which might be inducing the disease. Subsequently, the diet is modified to exclude the identified allergen. Other approaches aim at the provision of a complete nutrition lacking any potential allergens. For example, US 2008/0031814 describes a nutritional composition lacking allergenic ingredients and thereby preventing the development of allergic inflammatory conditions. Thus, instead of treating the disease by the choice of certain nutritional ingredients the diets of the prior art aim at avoiding allergenic ingredients in the diet.
Therefore, there is a need for a composition comprising natural compounds that does not only lacks main allergens but can actively prevent or treat eosinophilic esophagitis.